Category: Africa

KIGALI — Rwanda said Sunday it had begun administering vaccine doses against the Marburg virus to try to combat an outbreak of the Ebola-like disease in the east African country, where it has so far killed 12 people.

“The vaccination is starting today immediately,” Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said at a news conference in the capital Kigali.

He said the vaccinations would focus on those “most at risk, most exposed health care workers working in treatment centers, in the hospitals, in ICU, in emergency, but also [in] the close contacts of the confirmed cases.”

The country has already received shipments of the vaccines including from the Sabin Vaccine Institute.

Rwanda’s first outbreak of the viral hemorrhagic fever was detected in late September, with 46 cases and 12 deaths reported since then. Marburg has a fatality rate as high as 88%.

Marburg symptoms include high fever, severe headaches and malaise within seven days of infection and later severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

It is transmitted to humans by fruit bats and then spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of those infected. Neighboring Uganda has suffered several outbreaks in the past.

“We believe that with vaccines, we have a powerful tool to stop the spread of this virus,” the minister said.
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Prospects of peaceful resolution to Congo-Rwanda crisis dim

paris — They did not exchange a glance. Congolese Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan Paul Kagame were nevertheless a few meters from each other, for the “family photo” which opened the Francophonie summit, Friday in Villers-Cotterêts north of Paris.

The heavy diplomatic and military dispute between their two countries in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), ravaged by decades of violence, remains alive, despite Paris’ hopes of seeing them come closer.

The DRC, as well as the U.N. group of experts, accuse Rwanda of having deployed troops in support of the M23 (“March 23 Movement”), a predominantly Tutsi rebellion that has seized large swathes of territory in this mineral-rich region since 2021.

The idea of a Kagame-Tshisekedi meeting fizzled out. French President Emmanuel Macron, the summit’s host, finally spoke separately with his two counterparts to “encourage” them to conclude a peace agreement “as soon as possible,” while Angola, the mediator appointed by the African Union, has been trying for months to make progress on this sensitive issue.

And the summit almost ended in a clash. At the closing Saturday, Macron called for the “withdrawal of the M23 and Rwandan troops” from Congolese soil, as Kinshasa is demanding. Tshisekedi had slammed the door of the plenary the day before, angry at the silence of the French president on the situation in the DRC, according to a Congolese government source to AFP.

Harmonized plan

On the Angolan mediation side, discussions are running into new blockages despite the “important” compromises obtained recently with a view to a possible peace agreement, starting with the cease-fire agreement signed at the end of July, according to Rwandan and Congolese sources contacted by AFP.

Alongside ongoing political discussions, intelligence officials from both countries met in secret several times in August to establish a “harmonized plan” for ending the crisis, the sources said.

This plan, which was spread over four months, consisted for the Congolese to launch operations to “neutralize” the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), to respond to the concerns of Kigali. This rebel group formed by former senior Hutu leaders of the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994, and who have since taken refuge in the DRC, constitutes a permanent threat in the eyes of Kigali.

In return, Rwanda gave the green light to “a disengagement of forces” deployed in the east of the DRC and hostile to Kinshasa.

Alas. The progress of the negotiations finally came to a halt on September 14, at the end of yet another meeting between the Rwandan and Congolese foreign ministers Olivier Nduhungirehe and Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner.

Go further

The first, questioned by AFP, accuses the DRC of having “blocked everything” over a matter of timing, “because the harmonized plan planned to launch operations to neutralize the FDLR on D+25”, while the withdrawal of rebel and Rwandan “forces” was to begin five days later, on D+30.

“The plan proposed was reasonable, it was a good plan,” Nduhungirehe assures.

“The principle that should have been enacted is that of the simultaneity of operations, because it is much more effective,” the Congolese government source told AFP. “In any case, it is not the military and intelligence experts who ultimately decide, but the political leaders.”

At the U.N. on September 25, President Tshisekedi unsurprisingly called on the international community to impose “targeted sanctions” against Rwanda, insisting that its military presence on Congolese soil is an “aggression (which) constitutes a major violation of our national sovereignty.”

“Approving this plan would have been politically risky for Tshisekedi, reelected a year ago on a belligerent program towards Kagame and it could have been interpreted by public opinion as a 180-degree turnaround,” explains Onesphore Sematumba, expert for the International Crisis Group (ICG).

According to him, “there will be no purely military solution to the current crisis which has caused a humanitarian catastrophe [with nearly 7 million internally displaced people], it is an illusion.”

“We will have to go much further than the ‘harmonized plan,'” he said, and address the issue of mineral resources, the subject of fierce competition, but also political dialogue with the myriad of armed groups present on the ground.

In the meantime, the Angolan mediator has proposed a new inter-ministerial meeting on October 12. Both parties assure AFP that they will go.
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Tunisia votes with Saied set for reelection

Tunis, Tunisia — Voting began in Tunisia’s presidential election on Sunday with no real opposition to incumbent Kais Saied, who is widely tipped to win as his most prominent critics are behind bars.

Three years after Said staged a sweeping power grab, the election is seen as a closing chapter in Tunisia’s experiment with democracy.

The North African country had prided itself for more than a decade for being the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings against dictatorship.

Polling opened at 8 a.m. and is set to end at 6 p.m.

Electoral board ISIE has said preliminary results should come no later than Wednesday but may be known earlier.

At one polling station in central Tunis, AFP reporters saw a group of mostly older men lining up to vote.

Ahead of polling day, there were no campaign rallies or public debates, and nearly all of the campaign posters in city streets have been of Saied.

With little hope for change in a country mired in economic crisis, the mood among much of the electorate has been one of resignation.

“We have nothing to do with politics,” Mohamed, a 22-year-old who gave only his first name for fear of retribution, told AFP in the capital.

Neither he nor his friends planned to vote, he said, because they believed it was “useless.”

After rising to power in a landslide in 2019, Saied, now 66, led a sweeping power grab that saw him rewrite the constitution.

A burgeoning crackdown on dissent ensued, and a number of Saied’s critics across the political spectrum were jailed, sparking criticism both at home and abroad.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has said that more than “170 people are detained in Tunisia on political grounds or for exercising their fundamental rights.”

Jailed opposition figures include Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist-inspired opposition party Ennahdha, which dominated political life after the revolution.

Also detained is Abir Moussi, head of the Free Destourian Party, which critics accuse of wanting to bring back the regime that was ousted in 2011.

Little enthusiasm

ISIE said about 9.7 million people are expected to turn out, but the near certainty of a Saied win and the country’s mounting hardships have inspired little to no eagerness to vote.

The International Crisis Group think tank said on Friday that “the president’s nationalist discourse and economic hardship” have “corroded any enthusiasm ordinary citizens might have felt about the election.”

“Many fear that a new mandate for Saied will only deepen the country’s socio-economic woes, as well as hasten the regime’s authoritarian drift,” it said.

Voters are being presented with almost no alternative after ISIE barred 14 hopefuls from running in the race, citing insufficient endorsements among other technicalities.

Hundreds of people protested in the capital on Friday, marching along a heavily policed Habib Bourguiba Avenue as some demonstrators bore signs denouncing Saied as a “Pharaoh manipulating the law.”

Running against him Sunday are former lawmaker Zouhair Maghzaoui, who backed Saied’s power grab in 2021, and Ayachi Zammel, a little-known businessman who has been in jail since his bid was approved by ISIE last month.

Zammel currently faces more than 14 years in prison on accusations of having forged endorsement signatures to enable him to run in the election.

In a speech on Thursday, Saied called for a “massive turnout to vote” and usher in what he called an era of “reconstruction.”

He cited “a long war against conspiratorial forces linked to foreign circles,” accusing them of “infiltrating many public services and disrupting hundreds of projects” under his tenure.

The International Crisis Group said that while Saied “enjoys significant support among the working classes, he has been criticized for failing to resolve the country’s deep economic crisis.”
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Congo starts mpox vaccinations in effort to slow outbreaks

GOMA, Congo — Congolese authorities on Saturday began vaccinations against mpox, nearly two months after the disease outbreak that spread from Congo to several African countries and beyond was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.

The 265,000 doses donated to Congo by the European Union and the United States were rolled out in the eastern city of Goma in North Kivu province, where hospitals and health workers have been overstretched, struggling to contain the new and possibly more infectious strain of mpox.

Congo, with about 30,000 suspected mpox cases and 859 deaths, accounts for more than 80% of all the cases and 99% of all the deaths reported in Africa this year. All the Central African nation’s 26 provinces have recorded mpox cases.

Although most mpox infections and deaths recorded in Congo are in children under age 15, the doses being administered are only meant for adults and will be given to at-risk populations and frontline workers, Health Minister Roger Kamba said this week.

“Strategies have been put in place by the services in order to vaccinate all targeted personnel,” Muboyayi ChikayaI, the minister’s chief of staff, said as he kicked off the vaccination.

At least 3 million doses of the vaccine approved for use in children are expected from Japan in the coming days, Kamba said.

Mostly undetected for years

Mpox, also known as monkeypox, had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa before the disease prompted the 2022 global outbreak that saw wealthy countries quickly respond with vaccines from their stockpiles while Africa received only a few doses despite pleas from its governments.

However, unlike the global outbreak in 2022 that was overwhelmingly focused in gay and bisexual men, mpox in Africa is now being spread via sexual transmission as well as through close contact among children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups, Dr. Dimie Ogoina, the chair of WHO’s mpox emergency committee, recently told reporters.

More than 34,000 suspected cases and 866 deaths from the virus have been recorded across 16 countries in Africa this year. That is a 200% increase compared to the same period last year, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

But access to vaccines remains a challenge.

The continent of 1.4 billion people has only secured commitment for 5.9 million doses of mpox vaccines, expected to be available from October through December, Dr. Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa CDC, told reporters last week. Congo remains a priority, he said.

Province at risk of outbreak

At the vaccination drive in Goma, Dr. Jean Bruno Kibunda, the WHO representative, warned that North Kivu province is at a risk of a major outbreak due to the “promiscuity observed in the camps” for displaced people, as one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises caused by armed violence unfolds there.

The news of the vaccination program brought relief among many in Congo, especially in hospitals that had been struggling to manage the outbreak.

“If everyone could be vaccinated, it would be even better to stop the spread of the disease,” said Dr. Musole Mulambamunva Robert, the medical director of Kavumu Hospital, one of the mpox treatment centers in eastern Congo.

Eastern Congo has been beset by conflict for years, with more than 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich area near the border with Rwanda. Some have been accused of carrying out mass killings.
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Despite conflict in Ethiopia, millions chant and dance in streets during ‘thanksgiving’ festival

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Sex workers find themselves at center of Congo’s mpox outbreak

KAMITUGA, Congo — It’s been four months since Sifa Kunguja recovered from mpox, but as a sex worker, she said, she’s still struggling to regain clients, with fear and stigma driving away people who’ve heard she had the virus.

“It’s risky work,” Kunguja, 40, said from her small home in eastern Congo. “But if I don’t work, I won’t have money for my children.”

Sex workers are among those hardest-hit by the mpox outbreak in Kamituga, where some 40,000 of them are estimated to reside — many single mothers driven by poverty to this mineral-rich commercial hub where gold miners comprise the majority of the clientele. Doctors estimate 80% of cases here have been contracted sexually, though the virus also spreads through other kinds of skin-to-skin contact.

Sex workers say the situation threatens their health and livelihoods. Health officials warn that more must be done to stem the spread — with a focus on sex workers — or mpox will creep deeper through eastern Congo and the region.

Mpox causes mostly mild symptoms such as fever and body aches, but serious cases can mean prominent, painful blisters on the face, hands, chest and genitals.

Kunguja and other sex workers insist that despite risks of reinfection or spreading the virus, they have no choice but to keep working. Sex work isn’t illegal in Congo, though related activities such as solicitation are. Rights groups say possible legal consequences and fear of retribution — sex workers are subject to high rates of violence including rape and abuse — prevent women from seeking medical care. That can be especially detrimental during a public health emergency, according to experts.

Health officials in Kamituga are advocating for the government to shutter nightclubs and mines and compensate sex workers for lost business.

Not everyone agrees. Local officials say they don’t have resources to do more than care for those who are sick, and insist it’s sex workers’ responsibility to protect themselves.

Kamituga Mayor Alexandre Bundya M’pila told The Associated Press that the government is creating awareness campaigns but lacks money to reach everyone. He also said sex workers should look for other jobs, without providing examples of what might be available.

Sex work a big part of economy

Miners stream into Kamituga by the tens of thousands. The economy is centered on the mines: Buyers line streets, traders travel to sell gold, small businesses and individuals provide food and lodging, and the sex industry flourishes.

Nearly a dozen sex workers spoke to AP. They said well over half their clients are miners.

The industry is well organized, according to the Kenyan-based African Sex Workers Alliance, composed of sex worker-led groups. The alliance estimates that 13% of Kamituga’s 300,000 residents are sex workers.

The town has 18 sex-worker committees, the alliance said, with a leadership that tries to work with government officials, protect and support colleagues, and advocate for their rights.

But sex work in Congo is dangerous. Women face systematic violence that’s tolerated by society, according to a report by UMANDE, a local sex-worker rights group.

Many women are forced into the industry because of poverty or because, like Kunguja, they’re single parents and must support their families.

Getting mpox can put sex workers out of business

The sex workers who spoke to AP described mpox as an added burden. Many are terrified of getting the virus — it means time away from work, lost income and perhaps losing business altogether.

Those who recover are stigmatized, they said. Kamituga is a small place, where most everyone knows one another. Neighbors whisper and tell clients when someone is sick — people talk and point.

Since contracting mpox in May, Kunguja said she’s gone from about 20 clients daily to five. She’s been supporting her 11 children through sex work for nearly a decade but said she now can’t afford to send them to school. To compensate, she’s selling alcohol by day, but it’s not enough.

Experts say information and awareness are key

Disease experts say a lack of vaccines and information makes stemming the spread difficult.

Some 250,000 vaccines have arrived in Congo, but it’s unclear when any will get to Kamituga. Sex workers and miners are among those slated to receive them first.

Community leaders and aid groups are trying to teach sex workers about protecting themselves and their clients via awareness sessions where they discuss signs and symptoms. They also press condom use, which they say isn’t widespread enough in the industry.

Sex workers told AP that they insist on using condoms when they have them, but that they simply don’t have enough.

Kamituga’s general hospital gives them boxes of about 140 condoms every few months. Some sex workers see up to 60 clients a day — for less than $1 a person. Condoms run out, and workers say they can’t afford more.

Dr. Guy Mukari, an epidemiologist working with the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Congo, noted that the variant running rampant in Kamituga seems more susceptible to transmission via sex, making for a double whammy with the sex industry.
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Through music and dance, Sudanese performers transport refugee audiences home

cairo — As the performers took the stage and the traditional drum beat gained momentum, Sudanese refugees sitting in the audience were moved to tears. Hadia Moussa said the melody reminded her of the country’s Nuba Mountains, her family’s ancestral home.

“Performances like this help people mentally affected by the war. It reminds us of the Sudanese folklore and our culture,” she said.

Sudan has been engulfed by violence since April 2023, when war between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke out across the country. The conflict has turned the capital, Khartoum, into an urban battlefield and displaced 4.6 million people, according to the United Nations migration agency, including more than 419,000 people who fled to Egypt.

A band with 12 Sudanese members now lives with thousands of refugees in Egypt. The troupe, called “Camirata,” includes researchers, singers and poets who are determined to preserve the knowledge of traditional Sudanese folk music and dance to keep it from being lost in the ruinous war.

Founded in 1997, the band rose to popularity in Khartoum before it began traveling to different states, enlisting diverse musicians, dancers and styles. They sing in 25 different Sudanese languages. Founder Dafallah el-Hag said the band’s members started relocating to Egypt recently, as Sudan struggled through a difficult economic and political transition after a 2019 popular uprising unseated longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir. Others followed after the violence began. El-Hag arrived late last year.

The band uses a variety of local musical instruments on stage. El-Hag says audiences are often surprised to see instruments such as the tanbour, a stringed instrument, being played with the nuggara drums, combined with tunes of the banimbo, a wooden xylophone.

“This combination of musical instruments helped promote some sort of forgiveness and togetherness among the Sudanese people,” el-Hag said, adding that he is eager to revive a museum in Khartoum that housed historic instruments and was reportedly looted and damaged.

Fatma Farid, 21, a singer and dancer from Kordofan, moved to Egypt in 2021. Her aunt was killed in 2023 when an explosive fell on their house in al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan.

“The way I see art has changed a lot since the war began,” she said. “You think of what you present as an artist. You can deliver a message.”

Kawthar Osman, a native of Madani city who has been singing with the band since 1997, feels nostalgic when she sings about the Nile River, which forms in Sudan from two upper branches, the Blue and White Nile.

“It reminds me of what makes Sudan the way it is,” she said, adding that the war only “pushed the band to sing more for peace.”

More than 2 million Sudanese fled the country, mostly to neighboring Egypt and Chad, where the Global Hunger Index has reported a “serious” level of hunger. Over half a million forcibly displaced Sudanese have sought refuge in Chad, mostly women and children.

Living conditions for those who stayed in Sudan have worsened as the war spread beyond Khartoum. Many made hard decisions early in the war either to flee across frontlines or risk being caught in the middle of fighting. In Darfur, the war turned particularly brutal and created famine conditions, with militias attacking entire villages and burning them to the ground.

Armed robberies, lootings and the seizure of homes for bases were some of the challenges faced by Sudanese who stayed in the country’s urban areas. Others struggled to secure food and water, find sources for electricity, and obtain medical treatment since hospitals were raided by fighters or hit by airstrikes. Communications networks are often barely functional.

The performers say they struggle to speak with family and friends still in the country, much less think about returning.

“We don’t know if we’ll return to Sudan again or will see Sudan again or walk in the same streets,” Farid said.
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Somalia-Ethiopia tensions escalate; UN urges diplomatic resolution

washington — In a crucial week for Somalia’s security plan, discussions in Washington and New York have underscored the urgent need for preparation for the upcoming African Union Support Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), as escalating tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia over a maritime agreement Ethiopia signed with Somaliland raised concerns among international stakeholders.

Somalia is set to determine the composition of its upcoming AUSSOM following the expiration of the current AU mission.

Hussein Moalim, Somalia’s national security adviser, stated that Somalia is firm in its position on Ethiopian forces’ participation in the new mission.

“Somalia would not consider Ethiopian troops to be part of the new mission unless it withdraws from the illegal memorandum of understanding signed with [Somalia’s breakaway region of] Somaliland earlier this year,” Moalim said Thursday in an interview with VOA Somali.

The controversial memorandum of understanding, also known as an MoU, has escalated tensions between the two neighboring nations, granting Ethiopia access to a 20-kilometer (12.4 mile) stretch of Red Sea coastline in return for potential recognition of Somaliland’s independence.

Somalia views the MoU, signed in January, as a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, leading to a diplomatic rift that has included the expulsion of the Ethiopian ambassador from Mogadishu and threats to remove thousands of Ethiopian troops stationed in parts of south and central regions of the country.

Despite two rounds of mediated talks by Turkey yielding no results, Somalia’s State Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Omar Balcad insists that effective dialogue hinges on addressing issues of Somalia’s sovereignty infringement and restoring trust.

“First we need to solve the issue on our sovereignty infringement and second to restore the trust and the diplomatic relations between us, and then there comes the negotiation on the Ethiopia desire to access our sea and ports,” said Balcad in an interview with VOA Somali.

UN urges diplomatic resolution

In New York, the United Nations Security Council addressed the security situation in Somalia on Thursday, stressing the urgency of finalizing plans for the new AU stabilization mission.

During the discussion, concerns were raised regarding escalating tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia, with James Swan, acting special representative of the secretary-general, urging both nations to seek a diplomatic solution within the framework of international law.

Ambassador Robert Wood, the U.S. alternative representative for special political affairs, echoed these sentiments, highlighting the detrimental impact of rising tensions on regional security.

“Colleagues, we are deeply concerned about rising tension between Ethiopia and Somalia and the negative impact it is having on shared security interests,” Wood said.

In discussions held in Washington this week, Somali officials, along with representatives from the U.S., Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the U.K., emphasized the urgency of finalizing funding options for the new peacekeeping mission.

Somalia’s Moalim reiterated the commitment of international partners to support Somalia’s security, stability and sovereignty.

“The partners reaffirmed their unwavering support for the federal government of Somalia in its efforts to attain stability and security across the nation,” he said.

Ethopia denies Somalia’s allegations

Briefing the U.N. Security Council, Somali Foreign Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi accused Ethiopia of using the fight against terrorism as a pretext for territorial expansion.

“Let me be clear. The claim that Ethiopia is in Somalia to fight terrorism is a pretext for annexation,” Fiqi asserted, adding that Somalia has intercepted three illegal arms shipments from Ethiopia in the past three months, fueling local conflicts and empowering extremist groups.

“We call these actions a clear violation of Somalia’s sovereignty,” he said.

Ethiopia has been constantly denying Somalia’s accusations against Ethiopia, including its intention behind the MoU signed with Somaliland.

During last month’s meeting of U.N. General Assembly, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Taye Atske-Selassie said his country had nothing to do with Somalia’s allegations.

“Ethiopia’s memorandum of understanding with Somaliland is based on existing political dispensation in Somalia,” he said.

“Our objective is a shared growth and prosperity in the region. Similar agreements have been concluded by other states, and there is no reason for the government of Somalia to incite hostility that obviously intends to cover internal political tensions,” he added. “I therefore reject the unfounded allegations leveled against my country.”

Falastin Iman in Washington contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s Somali Service.
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Uganda’s military threatens US ambassador with expulsion

kampala, uganda — The chief of Uganda’s defense forces, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has given U.S. Ambassador William Popp until Monday morning to apologize or leave the country.

It is not clear why Kainerugaba, who is President Yoweri Museveni’s son, issued the ultimatum to the ambassador, although this week the United States sanctioned four Ugandan police officers for human rights violations.

On Friday, Kainerugaba took to X three times to say Uganda was about to have a serious confrontation with Popp for “disrespecting our beloved and celebrated president and for undermining the constitution of Uganda.”

Five hours later, Kainerugaba tweeted again, saying if Popp did not apologize to the president personally by 9 a.m. Monday for what the general called Popp’s undiplomatic behavior, the government would demand that he leave.

Speaking to VOA, Sewanyana Livingstone, director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative Uganda, said Kainerugaba has no authority to declare Popp persona non grata unless he is appointed minister of foreign affairs.

Sewanyana said Kainerugaba’s comments should be dismissed.

“He needs to calm down. He needs to understand that Uganda is not him, neither is he Uganda,” Sewanyana said. “Uganda will always be there. Sanctions are not the functions of an ambassador. They are issued by the State Department. So, I think he is even targeting the wrong person. I think Ugandans need to call him to order. It’s high time.”

On Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said four Ugandan police officers had been sanctioned for gross violations of human rights. These included torture and cruel inhumane treatment and punishment.

The police officers were identified as Bob Kagarura, Alex Mwine, Elly Womanya and Hamdani Twesigye.

The State Department said reports of the violations as documented by Ugandan civil court documents, civil society organizations and independent journalists were serious and credible.

Ugandan authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

A report released last month by the African Center for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, or ACTV, noted that torture cases in Uganda were on the rise despite laws against the practice.

Herbert Sam Nsubuga, executive director of ACTV, said the organization was concerned about the situation in Uganda.

“The situation is not as good as we want it to be,” Nsubuga said. “Because just halfway this year, we have made 903 cases. So, it’s still really an issue.”

In 2023, monitors in Uganda recorded 1,235 cases of torture, with the Uganda People’s Defense forces and police as top perpetrators.

The four designated officers in April 2020 raided a Ugandan legislator’s home, accusing him of violating the regulations put in place to control the spread of COVID-19 as he distributed food to vulnerable communities.

According to records produced in court, the legislator, Francis Zaake, was arrested and detained at the Defense Intelligence and Security headquarters, where he was tortured before he was left at a hospital.

He later sued the four officers, and a court awarded him $20,400.

In response to VOA questions on Kainerugaba’s threats, the U.S. Embassy in Uganda quoted State Department spokesman Miller as saying the embassy, the ambassador and the U.S. government were continuing to work directly and normally every day with Ugandan authorities on a full range of issues.

Miller said in accordance with U.S. law, the United States was committed to supporting justice for victims and accountability of those involved in human rights violations around the world.

This, he said, includes denying or restricting travel visas to visit the United States for individuals when there is demonstrated evidence that they have committed abuses.
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Clashes erupt in Kenya as people discuss deputy president’s impeachment motion

NAIROBI, Kenya — Supporters and opponents of Kenya’s deputy president clashed Friday at public forums over an impeachment motion against him, which was introduced in parliament by the ruling alliance this week. Rigathi Gachagua is accused of supporting anti-government protests in June and of being involved in corruption and other irregularities, charges he denies.

A motion for the impeachment of Gachagua was proposed in parliament Tuesday and Kenyans were given until Friday to fill out public participation forms at their constituencies. Public forums are being held across the country to discuss the impeachment.

In the capital, Nairobi, a public forum at the Bomas of Kenya turned violent as supporters of President William Ruto clashed with those supporting Gachagua. Chairs were thrown in the auditorium and an activist Morara Kebaso, known for exposing stalled government projects, said he had been injured.

In central Kenya’s Nyeri county, police clashed with supporters of the deputy president as they chanted that there would be no president if his deputy is impeached. The two were elected on a joint ticket.

In Nyandarua county, opponents were called out as being traitors and were chased out of the community hall.

Some 291 legislators, more than the 117 constitutional requirement, signed the impeachment motion before it was introduced, but several of them from the deputy president’s home turf say they no longer support the motion after hearing contrary views from their constituents.

“If the deputy president is guilty, then his boss the president is equally guilty,” a female supporter told Citizen TV.

Gachagua is facing impeachment on 10 grounds that include corruption, ethnic discrimination and contradicting government policies.

He has maintained that he is innocent and has vowed to fight the impeachment motion.

The high court Thursday declined to stop Friday’s public participation and set next Wednesday as the date for the hearing.

Ruto has not weighed in on his deputy’s impeachment debate.

He is on record in the earlier days of his presidency saying he would not publicly humiliate his deputy, alluding to the troubled relationship he had with his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta during their second term in office.

The senate is expected to hear the impeachment motion Tuesday.
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Tunisia’s president faces little challenge ahead of Sunday’s vote

paris — On a warm fall evening five years ago, supporters of the moderate Islamist Ennadha party packed one end of Tunis’ Habib Bourguiba Boulevard, the iconic landmark of Tunisia’s 2011 revolution. The other end hosted a boisterous get-out-the vote for business tycoon Nabil Karaoui — one of 26 candidates running in the North African country’s 2019 presidential race.

Tunisians voting Sunday will face a sharply narrower field. Out of 14 aspiring presidential candidates, the country’s electoral commission — handpicked by current President Kais Saied — approved just three. The first is in prison. The second is considered close to Saied. The third is Saied himself.

“The climate today is one of repression of every form of liberty,” said Kamel Jendoubi, a former minister who headed Tunisia’s first post-revolution electoral commission. “Arrests have multiplied against the opposition. Today all the main political leaders, from the left, center and right, are in prison.”

Jendoubi’s remarks are echoed by a raft of opposition politicians, analysts and rights activists, even as Saied’s supporters praise him for overhauling a corrupt and gridlocked system. Few dispute that after five years in office, the 66-year-old leader has dramatically reshaped Tunisia’s political landscape, even as high unemployment and a struggling economy persist.

With Sunday’s vote seemingly stacked in the president’s favor, some believe a second Saied term could consolidate a return to the country’s authoritarian past. Others suggest Tunisians, notably a young, post-revolution generation, will not tolerate the loss of their fledgling democracy — especially if they judge the vote to be rigged.

“If he’s elected under these circumstances, it will be a weak regime,” predicted Michael Ayari, senior Tunisia analyst for the International Crisis Group policy institute. “And a weak regime will do spectacular things to gain legitimacy.”

Cleaning up

A law professor and political newcomer, Saied catapulted to power in 2019, running a one-man, shoestring campaign. His populist message of rooting out cronyism and returning power to the people resonated among an electorate fed up with years of dysfunctional governance.

Thousands celebrated after Saied clinched runoff elections against businessman Karaoui, capturing 73% of the vote — a score some analysts believe he hopes to match or exceed.

Tunisian taxi driver Mongi Ben Ameur voted for Saied then. He plans to vote for him again on Sunday.

“The former regime, the people in politics, they profited from the country, they profited from the people,” Ben Ameur says. “Saied is trying to clean everything up. We won’t harvest the fruits right away, but he’s done things we haven’t seen before.”

In July 2021, Saied seized widespread powers, ultimately dissolving parliament. Over the next two years, he rewrote the country’s constitution, beefing up presidential powers and reducing legislative ones. Voter turnout to approve each change was low, however, dipping to just over 11% in last year’s legislative polls.

“I think he had this philosophy that he had to destroy everything to rebuild on solid foundations,” said Abdelkaddous Saadaoui, an activist and former Cabinet member, describing Saied’s philosophy which he opposes.

“He’s convinced he’s found solutions for the people,” said Tunisian essayist Hatem Nafti, who authored a newly published book on Tunisia under Saied. “He doesn’t even realize he’s a dictator.”

Under Saied’s presidency, authorities have detained or imprisoned dozens of opposition politicians, activists and journalists, dismissed judges and prosecutors, and weakened free expression and judicial independence. Even as Saied cracked down on corruption, analyst Ayari said, new forms have rooted and flourished.

For now, Saied faces no major challengers. On Tuesday, a Tunisian court toughened a prison sentence against presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel on forgery charges, although he remains on the ballot.

Separately, the elections commission rejected a top administrative court’s decision authorizing three additional candidates to run. Last week, lawmakers hastily passed legislation stripping the court’s authority to decide election disputes.

“He’s afraid of losing,” former minister Jendoubi said of Saied. “When Kais Saied did his coup, he was popular — people went out on the streets to applaud him. But his popularity has dropped considerably, because he’s not been able to resolve people’s problems.”

Challenging times

Internationally, Saied has moved beyond Tunisia’s traditional Western alliances, reaching out to Iran, China and Russia, and rejecting foreign interference.

He struck a controversial deal with the European Union to radically curb African migration to Europe, but rejected a $1.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout, even as the country’s public debt soars. Prices and joblessness are also high, and the country faces a major water crisis, which the president blames on a conspiracy.

“Mr. Saied has shown little interest in reforms: his economic policy does not go much beyond ranting about speculators and the odd anti-corruption drive (usually aimed at his political opponents),” The Economist wrote recently. “Another five years of this all but ensures that Tunisia’s economy will continue to flounder.”

While some activists still take to the streets, fear has silenced others. One declined to be interviewed over safety concerns.

“We’ve returned to self-censorship,” another Tunisian said. “It’s true that some still dare to speak out, but no one knows when that will be deemed too much.”

Still, one Tunisian businesswoman, with local government experience, does not regret Saied’s tenure. “These are challenging times, but sadly I feel we need to go through this,” she said. “Because in the past, political parties always made agreements to get a piece of the pie instead of serving the people.”

“For the moment, populism works,” said Crisis Group analyst Ayari of Saied. “Because each time he makes a mistake, he says ‘it’s not me — it’s the others, it’s the plotters.’ But if there’s a new narrative saying Kais Saied is responsible, then there will be mobilizations.”Members of Tunisia’s weakened and divided opposition believe change will come, sooner or later.

“I think there will be resistance against Kais Saied if he is going to confiscate power through cheating and repression,” says Ridha Driss, a senior member of the opposition Ennahdha party. “A peaceful political resistance will gain ground, and things won’t last long for Kais Saied.”
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Sudan’s war to intensify as rainy season draws to a close

DUBAI — After almost 18 months of war, fighting in Sudan is escalating as seasonal rains end with the army using intensified airstrikes and allied fighters to shore up its position ahead of a likely surge by the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

An uptick in fighting will aggravate an already dire humanitarian crisis in which famine has been confirmed and over 10 million people — one fifth of the population — are displaced, more than anywhere else in the world. U.N. agencies have often been unable to deliver aid.

“There won’t be a decisive breakthrough,” a senior Western diplomat in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity due to political sensitivities, told Reuters.

“What we expect to come into the fall more and more is much more fragmentation, to see more armed groups getting involved … And this will make the situation in general much more difficult.”

The paramilitary RSF has had the upper hand during much of the conflict but last week the army, after shunning U.S.-led talks in Switzerland, launched its biggest offensive yet in the capital Khartoum, advancing across a key bridge over the Nile.

In Darfur, former rebel groups and volunteers from displacement camps have rallied to defend the densely populated city of al-Fashir, the army’s last holdout in the western region, against waves of RSF attacks.

Two army sources said the army had worked for months to replenish weaponry including drones and warplanes, as well as training up new volunteers, to strengthen its position on the ground before any negotiations.

Three residents in the capital, which is made up of Khartoum and its adjoining cities of Omdurman and Bahri, said that in recent days the army had been carrying out more air bombardments with a larger number of drones and fighter jets than before.

While the army has used its superior air power at the end of the rainy season to pound RSF-held territory in the capital, Darfur and El Gezira state, the RSF’s more effective ground troops are expected to regain an edge as the dry season starts and roads become more passable.

The RSF released a video on Monday with its fighters promising a “hot winter” for its rivals in Sennar, where its progress had earlier been slowed by the rains. Witnesses there as well as in the capital reported heavy fighting on Thursday.

Both sides have reinforced militarily as the conflict in Africa’s third largest country by land area has deepened, drawing on material support from foreign backers, diplomats and analysts say.

Battle in the capital

The war began in April 2023 as the army and the RSF jostled to protect their power and wealth ahead of a planned political transition towards civilian rule and free elections.

The RSF, which has its roots in the so-called Janjaweed militias that helped the government crush a rebellion by non-Arab groups in Darfur in the early 2000s, quickly occupied much of the capital before consolidating its grip on Darfur and seizing El Gezira state, south of Khartoum.

Earlier this year, the army gained ground in Omdurman after acquiring Iranian drones. But it showed little sign of building on the advance before the surprise offensive it began last week on the day that its commander, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, told the United Nations that the RSF had to withdraw and lay down its arms for there to be peace.

The army now has control of the capital’s Halfaya bridge, allowing it to build a foothold in Bahri from its bases in Omdurman. It has also weathered heavy clashes and sniper fire to advance across another Nile bridge that leads to the heart of the capital, military sources and witnesses said.

Disease and starvation

For months the RSF has besieged al-Fashir, which is crammed with some 1.8 million residents and displaced people. Activists and diplomats have warned of ethnically-charged bloodletting if the city falls, after similar violence that was blamed on the RSF and its allies elsewhere in Darfur.

Two witnesses in al-Fashir told Reuters that the RSF had been shelling large areas of the city as the army responded with air strikes.

The battle has dragged on as non-Arab former rebel groups and volunteers from displacement camps who are better equipped for ground combat than the army fight to protect themselves and their families, the witnesses said.

A local group representing displaced people in Darfur said this week that the fighting had exacerbated the humanitarian situation in two dozen camps across the Darfur region, “all of which suffer from a lack of the most basic daily necessities”, and that disease and starvation were spreading.

Aid workers and human rights activists say there has been little increase in humanitarian relief, despite pledges by both sides to improve access for aid.

Sudan, often overlooked amid armed conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere, received some diplomatic attention at the U.N. General Assembly last week. But USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman told Reuters there had been little progress getting outside players to stop fueling the war.

“Both of the actors in this conflict, both sides of this, have outside support which they believe is going to tip the scales to their advantage,” she said.
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Tunisia’s president faces little challenge ahead of vote